The Edmonton Oilers were blown away by Florida Panthers, whom they were hosting for Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Saturday at the Rogers Place. This has been the similar story in the Stanley Cup Final games so far this season, where Edmonton's first half period have come back to haunt them.
Wayne Gretzky on Edmonton Oilers struggles in Game 5
On Saturday, the Oilers were 2-0 behind in the first period as Brad Marchand and Sam Bennett scored those goals. The lack of offensive power was also evident for the Oilers. They were outshot 8-3 in the first period, with all three of their shorts coming within first 8:50 of the game.
They showed signs of improvement in the second quarter, but a defensive setup from the Panthers was enough to hold them off. Sergei Bobrovsky had to hardly make any saves. Edmonton had a total of 21 shots on goal and further 17 shots were blocked by Panthers' defense.
NHL legend Wayne Gretzky on TNT's broadcast spoke about the lack of offense in front of the goal by his former team. He also mentioned that Panthers outclassed the Oilers as they played with control rather than going all out.
Right from the get-go, Florida played a really smart, intelligent road game, Gretzky said. We could see the first 10 minutes — they looked like the better team. Edmonton looked cautious. They were on their heels. They weren't making plays. They weren't getting pucks to the net — really no threat offensively in the first period.
And when you win a game, when you come back from being down 3-0 on the road in game four, I thought the energy and enthusiasm would have been breathtaking for the Oilers with these fans and how great the fans are.
Other notable thing from Game 5 was Connor McDavid, who scored his first goal in the third quarter, had zero shots on the target in the first two. In total, all shots combined were just 11 by the Canadian team as they lost 5-2 and are now 3-2 in the seven game series.
Oilers need to regroup or else lose out on another Stanley Cup Finals
Last year, the Oilers made a comeback from 3-0 down in the series to force a decider, but they played Game 6 at home. This time around, they will have to avoid elimination in the Sunrise State. History is evidence that team's having a 3-2 lead in the series have won the championship 73.1% of the time.
However, the Oilers are ready to take the fight to the Panthers.
I think we’ve come out flat now most of the series, so that’s something I think is a mindset, Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. I think we have to make sure we get pucks in and try to put pressure on them. They’re obviously a good team for a reason and they’ve come out and showed that early in the games and we have to find a way to be better than that at the start.
The Game 6 will be played on Tuesday, at the Amerant Bank Arena. The puck will drop at 8:00 pm ET.